How I Applique Celtic Knots

This knot is made up of three separate strands (two diagonal, and one encircling) and three different shapes: the corners, the curves, and the straight pieces, as shown below.

Basic Knot Shapes

Shall we begin?

1. Enlarge the Celtic knot to size.

2. Choose two or more contrasting fabrics: one (or more) for the knot strands, and one for the background. These can be any sort of opposites: light/dark, warm/cool, print/solid, etc.

3. Wash, dry, and iron the fabric; do not use any fabric softener because it can inhibit the adhesive’s effectiveness.

4. Trace the knot on the adhesive side of regular-weight paper-backed fusible adhesive (like Wonder Under). I trace on the adhesive side because tracing on the paper side results in a mirror image.

Traced Celtic knot shapes

5. Fuse the paper-backed adhesive to the wrong side of the knot fabric(s) according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Fused Celtic knot shapes

6. Cut out the shapes. Since enlarging the knot makes for thicker lines, I use a wide felt tip marker to trace the knot. Be sure to trim away the marker lines, otherwise they show up on your fabric (and through it).

Cut and trimmed Celtic knot shapes

7. Using the original drawing as a guide, arrange the shapes, adhesive side down, on the background fabric, leaving a slight gap between them. The gaps give the impression of “woven-ness.”

8. When satisfied with the arrangement of shapes, fuse them to the background according to manufacturer’s instructions.

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